Will the metropolis of Lyon succeed where others have broken their teeth? The community, led by ecologist Bruno Bernard, is preparing to test the four-day week on a voluntary basis. The experiment will be launched on September 1, 2023 for a period of six months.
It will be a question of verifying if this option can be applied in the long term. Because the operation is a puzzle. The metropolis of Lyon has 9,400 agents. And if the experiment proved conclusive in private companies, it could never be set up within local authorities of this importance.
The same number of hours worked
“The amount of work will be the same. The number of hours will not decrease because the law does not allow it. We will remain on a basis of 1,607 hours per year”, specifies Zémorda Khelifi, vice-president delegated to human resources. Volunteers will have to work between 1h45 and 2 hours more each day to complete 35 hours at the end of a shortened week.
“Like many local authorities, we are not spared from recruitment difficulties. There is behind this measure, an issue of attractiveness, ”underlines Zémorda Khelifi. “We felt that the subject was pushing a little. A lot of agents were asking us to go to 80%. We see that newcomers, and not necessarily young people, have new expectations in relation to the world of work in general, observes Anne Jestin, director general of metropolitan services. So that must be taken into account if we want to remain attractive. “And to add:” We are testing things. Would it work as well and make people better in their lives? »
To carry out its project, the community drew inspiration from studies carried out abroad, but above all from the example of the Villeurbannaise company LDLC. There, the establishment of the 4-day week had undeniable results. “There is a benefit in reducing the number of sick leaves and burnout. There are effects on reducing stress. The absenteeism rate has been halved”, reveals Zémorda Khelifi for whom “improving mental health has been a real subject since the Covid crisis”.
Strengthen gender equality
The challenge will be daunting: not to hamper the functioning of services “while remaining flexible and flexible”. “Each manager will have to sit down with his teams to see how to organize the work together so as not to cause a loss of productivity,” says Anne Jeslin. Nor depopulate services on Mondays or Fridays, traditionally coveted by employees wishing to extend their weekends. “At LDLC, they alternate between a day chosen by the employee and another chosen by the company. And it works well,” she says.
Through this measure, the metropolis also plans to “strengthen gender equality”. To date, 970 community workers work part-time, including 881 women, including Armela Braun. For four years, she has made the choice to “go to 80%”, agreeing to lose part of her remuneration to “reduce her mental load”. “If we go to the four-day week, that will allow me to recover 100% of my salary while continuing to work like this,” she rejoices. This will also allow me to contribute more for retirement. In Lyon, however, the experience will not concern agents who depend on specific schedules (3/8 or 2/8), namely nearly 40% of the workforce.